


Accused

by TeaGirl42



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Daddy Uncle Rafa, F/M, Framed for murder, Friends to Lovers, Minor Character Death, Sorry - maybe not one for Tucker fans!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:07:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28591497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaGirl42/pseuds/TeaGirl42
Summary: Olivia is framed for murder and faces a battle to prove her innocence - but Rafael Barba is never far from her side.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Olivia Benson
Comments: 15
Kudos: 50





	Accused

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to finish Rediscovered before I continue with this, but it will be my next multi-chapter story!
> 
> If you really like Tucker I'm very sorry that I killed him...again!
> 
> Bri - I ran with your idea about Rita telling Olivia, but maybe not in the way you intended! 😆

Olivia growled with frustration as she walked through the main entrance of the apartment building and shook out her umbrella. Then she quickly walked through the familiar foyer toward the elevator with an empty bag over her shoulder. She carried her cell in one hand as she communicated with Lucy, Fin and Barba simultaneously about Noah and multiple ongoing cases…then she snarled out a quiet ' _'Fuck'_ when she caught her leg on her umbrella and felt the water droplets quickly soak through her pants.

This had been a crappy week.

A crappy week that had kicked off with the end of her most recent in a long line of failed relationships - Ed Tucker. He was a man that for a while she had actually imagined spending the rest of her life with…in an abstract sense…but when everything else was stripped away what they had most in common was the job, and while he'd seemed ready to walk away from that she was not.

Truth be told if they had wanted to make their relationship last they both could have worked harder to find a compromise and the fact that neither had really tried had been the final nail in the coffin.

She hesitated outside his door for a moment, his key in her pocket. They weren't together anymore, she reflected, she should definitely knock. After a few moments she knocked again…then after maybe thirty seconds, _again._ Olivia was getting frustrated now, she was already being pulled in multiple directions and this was the time that Ed had suggested to her that she could come by and pick up her things.

Olivia thought through what she could have possibly left at his place, was it even worth the hassle? She remembered a spare cell charger that was lying next to his bed and sighed…then her mind drifted to an especially warm jersey that she had worn at his place a few weeks ago and she gritted her teeth.

 _He_ had asked her here at this time.

 _He_ wasn't here.

And she sure as hell wasn't going to be making plans to come over again anytime soon. She put her hand in her pocket and took out the key, slipping it into the lock and telling herself that she would be in and out in less than five minutes - then she could leave the key behind and send him a message letting him know what she'd done.

Hell, this was probably what he wanted her to do anyway.

Olivia pushed the heavy door open with her hip and paused. She couldn't place what it was, but from the moment she entered something felt…off.

Glancing around she shrugged a little and propped her umbrella up near the door, telling herself that it probably felt different because the last time she was here they were together, now it felt like she was entering someone else's apartment.

She walked toward the bedroom, but then at the last minute, something pulled her focus toward his kitchen.

_Something…_

The moment Olivia registered that she was seeing _feet_ laying out from behind the kitchen counter her legs started moving before her mind even caught up. Then as she arrived in front of him her brain blanked completely for a moment.

A body.

Gunshot wound to the face.

After seconds, or maybe even minutes of inaction, Olivia rushed to his side - feeling for a pulse and then fumbling with bloody hands to call 911 on her cell.

"This is Detective Benson, 16th precinct, I have an officer down…" She spoke clearly and methodically, giving her location and all of the details without taking time to really process the reality of the situation.

As she ended the call Olivia finally looked at the remaining features of her ex-lover - the man who had made her smile, who had made her happy, who had taken her to Paris...

The man she knew for a fact was already dead.

* * *

Olivia sat on a couch in the corner as officers seemed to move around her in a non-stop whirl of action. Her mind was simultaneously racing with information and completely quiet.

This couldn't be _real._

She looked up at the sound of her name and watched as Carisi and Rollins rushed to her side. They were talking to her in kind and reassuring voices, but for all Olivia understood their words they could have been talking in martian. She calmed slightly at their presence though, looking over to see Fin exchanging heated words with who she assumed must be the lead investigating officer.

"He's dead…" Olivia said weakly. Then she felt a warm hand rest over hers and looked up to find that Rafael Barba seemed to have materialised from nowhere. Did he come in with Carisi and Rollins? How long had he even been here? "Rafa?" She asked peering at him through a fog of her own thoughts.

"What can I do?" He asked earnestly.

She opened and closed her mouth a few times, her eyes fogging up with tears - then let out a long breath at the feeling of two strong arms wrapping around her. The warmth of his body and the physical power of his embrace seemed to make Olivia's whole body sag, as though if she were standing she might have fainted. Then her face dropped against his shoulder.

Olivia didn't know what she was feeling right now - but this actually felt really good.

Some louder voices broke through her haze as she heard Fin shouting angrily.

Then Barba's hand moved protectively to the back of her head.

 _"Jesus!_ You're not serious?" He snarled and Olivia tensed.

She suddenly felt herself being shifted away from Barba's comforting arms and met with the vaguely familiar face of a detective.

"I'm calling Rita right now," Barba assured her, speaking over whatever the detective was saying, "…I'll have her meet you there. Don't worry, Liv. We're going to sort all of this out."

The voice of the officer came in focus as a young man directed her to stand.

_"….questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions now without a lawyer present, you have the right to stop answering at any time."_

"You put those fucking cuffs on her and I swear to God!" Fin snarled.

Then she heard a quiet rumble of assent before an arm started guiding her toward the door. She looked around in a panic, her gaze looking for…

 _"Rafa?"_ She spoke tearfully.

"I'll follow behind, I'll be…" He started to assure.

"I need you to go to Noah," she said as tears began rolling down her face. _"Please?"_

Barba nodded, his own eyes welling with tears now.

"Whatever happens I need you to make that sure my boy is okay..." she entreated him as she was directed out of the door.

"We'll sort this out, Liv," Barba called after her.

* * *

As Olivia's mind started to clear, she was finally able to focus on what was happening. Ed Tucker was dead - shot in the head by a gun that had been registered in her name, the police had been informed of their breakup by his colleagues, but the investigating officers had found it suspicious that none of her friends seemed to be aware that they were no longer together.

All of that combined with the fact that there were no signs of a break-in and she had let herself into his apartment using a key that he had given her meant that Olivia had bounced straight to the top of their suspect list of _one_ person.

The manpower behind the case was almost unheard of given the high profile of the murder and the fact that the story had hit the major news outlets within hours. A respected lieutenant and head of a Special Victims Unit arrested and charged with the murder of her ex-boyfriend, the Captain of the Conviction Integrity Unit. The media buzz was already uncontrollable.

It had been 18hrs since her arrest. Out of respect for Olivia's position she had been allowed to have a shower and had changed into NYPD pants and a sweatshirt, but the only person that she'd been allowed to see since her arrest had been Rita Calhoun. Rita had arrived at the station within minutes of her booking and had barely given the investigating officers a moments peace since. She was a woman on a mission of fury and under any other circumstances, Olivia might have found the energy to be reluctantly impressed.

However, Olivia did reflect on the fact that this furious and relentless drive was undoubtedly on behalf of their mutual friend.

_"I'm here for Rafael, Olivia," Rita had told her firmly during a quieter moment in-between seemingly endless questioning, "…neither he nor I will stand for this."_

xxx

Olivia stood in her cell and gazed toward the light beaming from a small window above her eye-line. She had barely even registered the sound of the door opening behind her before warm hands came to rest on her shoulders and made her jolt in surprise.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Barba's soft and achingly familiar voice said as he took his hands away and stepped back.

She turned and felt the weight around her lift slightly for the first time since she had first entered Ed's apartment.

"Rafa..." She sighed in relief and stepped toward her friend, wrapping her arms around him and burrowing her face into his shoulder tearfully.

His arms quickly enclosed around her and he held on tightly. "I only have ten minutes, I pulled every string available…" Barba said softly, his hand stroking over the back of her hair.

Olivia nodded against his shoulder and tightened her grip. "What if I just refuse to let you go?" She asked, only half-joking.

Barba laughed, sounding both amused and surprised. "I would have absolutely no problem with that, but I feel like your colleagues with the NYPD might take issue," he said with genuine sadness.

She took a couple of deep breaths and then nodded, pulling back a little but still gripping his forearms as she looked into his eyes. "It's _so_ good to see you, you have no idea," Olivia smiled appreciatively.

"I could only get them to agree to ten minutes. I wasn't sure…" Barba smiled a little awkwardly, "…I needed to see you, there are so many people wanting to see you, Liv...so I hope you don't mind that I took the opportunity for myself?"

Olivia laughed softly, "Rafa, alongside Noah I can't imagine a face I'd be happier to see right now…aside from maybe Ed."

Barba winced, glanced at the floor and then met her eyes and nodded. "I'm so sorry, I know how much…I mean, what you went through…" he sighed now, seemingly not knowing what to say.

"Ed was a large part of my life for a long time. I can't believe…" she closed her eyes as the image of his body flashed in her head, "…I can't believe he's gone. We weren't together anymore, but he was a _good_ man and seeing him like that..." she shuddered, then met her friend's steady gaze, "I just meant that if Ed walked in here right now this would all be over. I could go home…to Noah."

"Liv…" Barba replied softly, "…you _will_ go home to Noah. You have one of the best defence lawyers in the city and I will move heaven and earth to prove that you didn't do this."

"How is Noah?" She asked.

"I stayed with him last night, as you requested, but Rollins said that she would be happy to step in if you want?" Barba asked, unsure if Olivia had been thinking straight when she had been arrested.

"I feel like I will be able to deal with this better knowing that he is with you. Is that strange?" Olivia admitted.

Barba smiled in amusement, "A little. I'm not exactly experienced with children, Liv. We muddled through together last night, but…"

Olivia brought her hand to the side of his face and Barba's train of thought was lost.

"Just having you here makes me feel stronger, I want my sweet boy to have that too. You must know how much he loves his Uncle Rafa? He's always asking about you and…" Her eyes welled with tears again.

"Hey, Livia," Barba asked softly and stepped a little closer. "What?"

"He's missed you over the last few months…we both have," she admitted thoughtfully. "The choices we make, the right ones, the wrong ones, they lead to time wasted and so many opportunities not taken."

"Livia?" Barba asked again, concern in his voice and eyes.

"I'm going to prison, aren't I?" Olivia spoke with resignation. "Someone has done a really good job of setting me up, Rafa. If I didn't know better even I would think I was guilty."

 _"No,"_ Barba assured. "I'm not going to let that happen."

"Why are you so certain that I'm innocent?" Olivia asked.

Barba smiled, "The same reason Fin, Rollins and Carisi never doubted you for a second - Olivia Benson is a protector, _not_ a murderer."

"Rafa…" Olivia breathed out suddenly not able to meet his eyes, "…you don't know what I'm capable of."

Barba tipped her chin up with his finger and forced her to look at him. "I do. I always have. I have always understood and I was _always_ right there with you. I know you, Olivia, I know your heart. Okay?"

Tears fell down Olivia's face when she realised what Barba was saying. Her friend, her confidant...he knew the very darkest secrets of her soul and was not looking away.

"I wish…" She started to speak but the door opened.

"Time's up," a young officer announced and stood in the doorway.

Barba scowled over his shoulder and then looked back at Olivia, his face so easily shifting back to the affectionate smile she had only ever seen him bestow upon her. "I'll try to come back, we will push for more visitors," he assured.

 _"You,_ please," she said quickly. "Of course, I want to see the others, but if time is restricted or you can only do so much…please, I need to see you."

Barba nodded, "I'll be here...and when I'm not I'll be with Noah. I'm right here with you, okay?"

"Alright lovebirds, I was told ten minutes," the officer repeated from the exit.

Olivia and Barba shared a look, almost a smile, he really had _no_ idea.

She buried her face in his shoulder and breathed in his scent, closing her eyes and trying to store a memory that she could return to when she needed it. Being safe in his arms. His hand stroked over her hair again and Olivia felt her tears leak onto his jacket.

"I'll see you soon?" She entreated.

"As soon as possible," he assured, then pressed his lips to her forehead before slowly stepping out of her arms and walking toward the door without looking back.

xxx

Within a few minutes, Rita walked through and sat down on the cot near to a still slightly shaken Olivia. She held several files in her arms and looked up at her with a rueful smile. "The way that man loves you, it would be pathetic if even I didn't find it somewhat charming," Rita admitted with a small laugh.

 _"What?"_ Olivia breathed out as she sat down next to Rita, her legs suddenly felt weak.

Rita rolled her eyes as she opened one of her files. "I've known Rafael for half my life, Olivia. Never once have I seen him even half as gone on someone as he is on you. He's looking after your kid...and I know he'd be in here in your place if he could. If you can't see that he would walk through fire for you then maybe you're not as smart as I've given you credit for." She paused and took in the look of shock in Olivia's eyes. "I had assumed you weren't interested? That was why you kept blowing him off..."

Olivia looked toward the door that she had not long watched Barba leave through and winced.

"You can't _both_ be that damaged?" Rita continued dryly, but with an edge of genuine warmth and intrigue. "You want him too, don't you?" She asked.

Olivia closed her eyes in response to the powerful way that Rita seemed to be seeing straight through her...and the nausea that was suddenly flowing through her body in waves.

"God, you're not stupid are you?" The lawyer sighed with uncommon levels of empathy, "...But I think you might be as crazy as he is." She looked up at the ceiling and let out a long breath, Rafael Barba had weaselled his way into Rita's esteem when they were barely more than kids - she had already known that the stakes were high, but they just became astronomical. "Damn, now I really do _need_ to get you out of here…"

**_TBC…_ **


End file.
